Inmate killed at SC prison identified as man who shot Spartanburg County deputy

South Carolina prison officials identified an inmate killed in a fight Thursday as a Spartanburg County man convicted for shooting a deputy more than six years ago.

A Department of Corrections tweet identified the inmate as 33-year-old Robert Odell Brown. He had been serving a 45-year sentence for attempted murder and 17 other charges. The agency said he was killed Thursday by another inmate, but released few details on what happened at Lee County Correctional Institution.

Brown had numerous disciplinary violations, according to prison records. That included “threatening to inflict harm on an employee” in February 2013.

Greer Today reported Brown shot Deputy Brad James in the face as James chased him on foot south of Spartanburg in November 2011. James had earlier attempted to stop Brown’s vehicle for speeding. Prosecutors said at the time that Brown cut his hair and fled to Virginia, where he was eventually arrested by state troopers.

Lee Correctional holds some of South Carolina’s most violent offenders and has seen in uptick in reported inmate deaths, particularly as the Department of Corrections struggles to hire and retain enough correctional officers to staff it. Another inmate 51-year-old Larry Rainey was stabbed to death in November after what authorities called an inmate fight. Three inmates were charged with killing another inmate at the facility in June 2016.